Ferrara's Duomo, built in the 12th century, is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles, with a façade decorated with reliefs depicting scenes from the last Judgement. The interior, which was rebuilt in the 18th century, houses different works of art, including an altarpiece by Guercino and an excellent museum which has a set of bas-reliefs illustrating the labours of the months that formerly adorned the outside. There are also illuminated manuscripts, two organ shutters decorated by Cosme Turà, one of the Annunciation, another showing St George killing the dragon, and a beautiful Madonna by della Quercia.

The Chiesa del Gesu’ was built in 1570 to a design by Alberto Schiatti, and later extended by adding chapels. The austere façade is in fired brick and tiles throughout. The interior, with a single nave, contains paintings of considerable interest, including a valuable "Annunciation" by Bastarolo (1580) and two important examples of Baroque painting: "Saints Luigi Gonzaga and Stanislao Kotska" and "S. Francesco Saverio Raises a Man from the Dead" by G. M. Crespi. To the left of the entrance we can see an important 15th- century sculpture group in polychrome terracotta: "The Mourning of Christ" by Guido Mazzoni. According to tradition the crying figures around the body of Jesus represent members of the court and, more particularly, the two statues on the far right depict Ercole I and his wife Eleonora of Aragon. Behind the main altar stands the sepulchral monument to Duchess Barbara of Austria, wife of Duke Alfonso II d'Este.

This church was built between 1612 and 1623 on the area of a demolished oratory, to a design by Giovan Battista Aleotti. The façade is divided by two double columns bearing an architrave with tympanum, niches with statues and a portal with divided tympanum and angels holding a coat of arms. The interior has an elliptical plan with two large rectangular chapels and a semicircular apse. Huge statues of saints are housed in  niches. The ceiling has an elegant fresco from 1674 by the painter Giuseppe Avanzi.

The Certosa (charterhouse), built by Borso d'Este in 1461, was converted in the early 19th century into a monumental cemetery by F. Canonici. It houses, among others, the tombs of Duke Borso and of the painters Giovanni Boldini, Gaetano Previati and Filippo De Pisis. The building of the present-day church, attributed to Biagio Rossetti, began in 1498 and ended in 1551. The façade, which has remained unfinished, is decorated by an 18th-century marble portal. The interior has a single large and airy nave, with six chapels on each side, transept and large presbytery area with an apse.

The church of St. George is mentioned from the 10th century onwards and was the city cathedral up to the 12th century. From the middle of the 15th century the monastery buildings and church were administered by the monks of the "Olivetan Congregation". The bell tower was built in 1485 by Biagio Rossetti. The current layout of the church is the result of the alterations made by Alberto Schiatti (1581) and later work in the 17th century. The façade in fired brick is decorated by a large stone bas-relief: "St. George Slaying the Dragon". The interior has a basilica plan with three naves and an apse. It houses works by Francesco Ferrari, Costanzo Catanio, Domenico Canuti and Francesco Naselli. In the area of the presbytery stands the sepulchral monument of Lorenzo Roverella, bishop of Ferrara, a work of Antonio Rossellino and Ambrogio da Milano. At the entrance to the bell tower there is the tomb of the painter Cosmé Tura, leader of the Ferrara painting school. The sacristy and cloisters, the only remains of the ancient convent, have a very elegant design.

Built near a ford ("vado") of the Po, there is mention of this church from the 10th century onwards. In 1171 a miraculous event took place there: at the moment of the consecration, drops of blood sprayed from the Host, and washed over the vault of the church . Rebuilt in 1495 with the technical assistance of Ercole de' Roberti and Biagio Rossetti, the church has a façade in fired brick and tiles, decorated by a fine marble portal and crowned by statues by Andrea Ferreri. Richly decorated, the interior has a basilica plan, with an apse, and divided into three naves by two rows of columns. The wings of the transept, with two chapels per side, house a 16th-century organ and the Sanctuary of the Precious Blood, in which the ancient vault is preserved with the traces of blood of the Eucharistic miracle.

The present church is the third one built on this site where the Franciscans had settled as early as the 13th century and was built by Biagio Rossetti from 1494 onwards. Considerable transformations took place after the earthquake in 1570 and on several other occasions. The brickwork façade is divided up by pilaster strips in marble in the first order and in fired brick and tiles in the second, which is linked to the lower one by very large side scrolls. The brickwork frieze in the line separating the two orders is remarkable, with its portrait of St. Francis, borne by angels, which is repeated tens of times. The interior has a Latin cross plan, with three naves and eight chapels on each side. Only a few traces of all the decorative patterns formed over the centuries remain today. The works of art housed in the church include a "Pietà" in painted wood, attributed to the Lombard school, and a "Flagellated Christ" in stucco from the 15th century, with two frescoed flagellants of the Garofalo school (16th century). Behind the main altar there is a grandiose sculpted and gilded altar-piece containing three great paintings by Domenico Mona (16th century): "Deposition", "Ascension" and "Resurrection". The first chapel on the left is of particular interest, with an unusual altar-piece sculpted in tufaceous stone ("Jesus Praying in the Garden") from 1521. On either side the patrons are depicted. The right-hand wall has the splendid fresco "The Capture of Christ" (1524) by Garofalo. In the right wing of the transept we can see the grandiose mausoleum of the Marquis Ghiron Francesco Villa, famous general under the Savoia family: an almost unique example of a Baroque tomb in Ferrara.

It was Beatrice II D’Este, who joined the Benedectine order that founded the convent in 1257. The convent, that stands in a peaceful area, has three chapels decorated with frescoes by Giotto and the Emilian School.

This church has been constructed during the 11th century and has been rebuilt a number of times. The present façade, the work of extensive restoration performed in 1825, has an elegant decoration in brickwork and a marble portal taken from another church, no longer standing. The three-nave interior contains interesting works by Giacomo Parolini and Scarsellino (17th century).

This great Benedictine basilica, originally projected by Biagio Rossetti, was rebuilt after the Second World War. Due to the bombardments the original decoration has almost completely disappeared, and little remains of the convent, although it is possible to visit two seventeenth-century cloisters. The bell-tower was built to a design by Giovan Battista Aleotti.